Should You Consider an Independent Audit of Your Interactive Media?March 1, 2008
With an increasing share of media spending being redirected from traditional to interactive media, the simple answer is, “yes.” According to a report issued last month by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewatershouseCoopers, online advertising approached $6 billion during the fourth quarter of 2007, representing a 24 percent increase above fourth quarter 2006 (Adweek.com, Feb 26). This colossal rise in spending for the industry further supports the significance of independent media audits to assess where those dollars are going and their overall impact on your bottom line.
An independent assessment of an advertiser’s interactive media buy can improve the transparency and controls for each facet of the interactive investment cycle (i.e. plan development, media buying, execution, stewardship, reporting). While we would recommend customizing the scope of a media audit to reflect each advertiser’s needs, below are some examples of interactive audit outputs:
Benefits of an interactive media plan assessment
1. Assurance that the agency is applying the appropriate planning tools and resources required to support their strategic and media allocation recommendations.
2. Validation of the soundness of the strategic options developed to help ensure that the agency’s affinity targeting, site selection and campaign optimization efforts are being considered and incorporated into the planning process.
3. Review of the support documentation that drove the agency’s strategic and tactical recommendations; cross channel analysis, targeting parameters, cross-site duplication analysis, frequency to conversion analysis, unique visitor deduping analysis, etc…
4. Validate the inputs used for the sales forecasting, econometric modeling and target segmentation efforts, ensuring the integrity of the plan.
Benefits of a media buying performance assessment
1. Comprehensive review and feedback on processes/ tools utilized; buying guidelines, insertion orders, media property invoices, proof of performance, client billing, agency reporting used to monitor and recap the investment.
2. Confirmation of rate and audience delivery.
3. Click efficacy validation.
4. Improved traffic quality management performance.
5. Click fraud minimization. Aside from verifying actual performance, an independent audit will lead to improved resource allocation decisions, media processes and performance benchmarking. Given the complexity of the interactive marketplace and the breadth of digital media alternatives being utilized can an advertiser afford not to insure their media investment?
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